


Terror strikes lightly your stillness

by call-me-cee (cls1606)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Jesse has a bit of a fetish maybe, M/M, Maul and his Spider Legs, Maul has EIGHT legs not six because otherwise he would be a BUG not a SPIDER, Unresolved Sexual Tension, i don't even care about canon anymore, leggies, not edited lmao, oh god please forgive any spelling or grammar errors, prosthetic limbs (more than you might expect)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:55:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29770983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cls1606/pseuds/call-me-cee
Summary: Jesse is fascinated by those legs.
Relationships: CT-5597 | Jesse/Darth Maul
Comments: 7
Kudos: 22
Collections: Bushels for Apples





	Terror strikes lightly your stillness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheAceApples](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAceApples/gifts).



> Terror strikes lightly your stillness.  
> Serene is your bed and your icebox.  
> Death is your neighbor calmly  
> Surveying the scene as you strike. 
> 
> The intruders, no more than inquisitive  
> Guests, find adhesive your ladders;  
> Jacob's dream, mirrored, entices them in.  
> They converge upon your constant hunger. 
> 
> The struggle is short however frantic.  
> What defeat that was not dealt  
> By you, ever lay in your net?  
> A broom, a flame, a foot, a stronger net. 
> 
> \--"Spider", Thomas Cole, May 1973

Jesse is fascinated by those legs. He doesn’t remember much from the Umbaran campaign - the multiple concussions from Krell’s beatings saw to that - but he _does_ remember waking groggily in a destroyed bunker with those legs forming a cage around his body as their owner deflected blaster bolts with ease. Ever since, he’s the only person he knows who isn’t put off by them (excepting Maul’s brothers, of course). 

He shifts against the wall of the conference room. Not because he necessarily needs to, but it does give him a better vantage point to watch through his visor as Maul…discusses…trade routes with the Republic ambassador. The ambassador seems to be under the impression that he’s winning an argument, but anyone who’s spent any time around Maul knows that silence is not a good sign. Maul only makes mistakes when he’s talkative; his silence is cruelly calculated destruction just waiting for the right moment to strike. 

Maul’s fourth left leg starts tapping. It’s slight enough that no one else except Savage has probably noticed, but Jesse is always paying attention to Maul. He watches the smooth tip of the tarsus rise and fall, the silent and precise strikes dictated by well-oiled joints and perfect cohesion of movement. Rise. Strike. Rise. Strike. Jesse follows the train of movement with his eyes. Metatarsus. Tibia. Patella. Femur. Trochanter. Coxa. Every time the leg lifts the other seven legs compensate very slightly, stabilizing the weight of Maul’s body to keep his torso perfectly still above the tabletop. Jesse keeps following the movement joint by joint by joint, tracing the dark shine of the limb as it moves. Rise. Strike. The light from the overhead lamps follows a path along the metal…up…and down…and Jesse follows the light.

No one knows why Mother Talzin left Maul his chosen legs instead of making him bipedal once again. Perhaps she was impressed with his ingenuity. Perhaps she wanted to use his chosen form to frighten his enemies further. Perhaps - and this is privately the theory Jesse holds to - she wanted her oldest son to have a constant reminder that he even saw _himself_ as a monster. Whatever her motivations, they are no longer Maul’s concern. Jesse made sure of that. Her surrender accepted, the new leader of Dathomir had turned his back on his first captor ( _abuser_ , Jesse’s mind whispered as he caught Maul’s shuttered gaze) and started to walk away. Defeat, Talzin could accept with a modicum of dignity. Dismissal was another story. But training and genetically enhanced reflexes were a boon when fighting magic-users, and Jesse was one of the best. Her sons had barely begun to turn when her smoking corpse hit the floor, and Jesse could tell that Captain Rex was shocked at his mercilessness but he just couldn’t bring himself to care about a woman who would sell her own children. 

Damn but she was a good architect though. Rise. Strike. Rise. Strike. Rise- and hold? 

Oh. The ambassador just stepped in it. Jesse’s gaze jumps to Maul’s narrowed eyes and hears Savage’s dark chuckle. At least this meeting won’t take much longer. 

It’s almost boring, watching Maul turn his silver tongue into a weapon. He’s unsurprisingly brutal with his soft voice, but when he lets his emotions get the better of him he stops observing reactions and becomes a bloviating battering ram. It’s the only time Jesse truly sees a resemblance between Maul and Savage. But that’s fine. Jesse is there to keep a cool head. At least Maul isn’t defaulting to so-called “aggressive negotiations”. In the months that Jesse has been stationed on Dathomir he’s seen Maul learn to reign in the impulse to skewer every political actor he comes in contact with. Jesse has learned a thing or two about anger management as well. 

Maul is about to lose control. Jesse sees the minute shift in his shoulders, the way his smile turns rotten, the subtle way his legs unconsciously tense as if to spring. Savage sees it too - and glories in it - but it’s Jesse’s job to keep the ambassador alive, so he shifts against the wall again, recrossing his arms and clearing his throat. Maul’s eyes dart to him and he stops speaking. For a scorching second Maul holds his gaze and Jesse wonders for the umpteenth time if Nightbrother eyes can see through tinted plast. He holds his breath until Maul softly dismisses everyone from the room. 

The ambassador practically leaps toward the exit, but as Jesse turns to follow he hears, “Trooper. A word, if you please.” 

He settles back against the wall, propping a leg up and crossing his arms yet again. If the ambassador isn’t here, he’s not on-duty. Officially. “Can I help you, Governor?” 

The use of his title makes Maul scowl. He skitters across the floor with intent and Jesse waits patiently, watching the synchrony of those legs as they move their owner smoothly across the floor, tap-tapping all the way. Jesse supposes that most people find that…unsettling. He’s more unsettled that he doesn’t, although he’ll never admit it. 

Maul doesn’t stop when he reaches Jesse’s feet, instead climbing the wall on either side of Jesse until the trooper is well and truly caged in. Even though Jesse has to tilt his head up to look into those red-gold eyes, he’s not intimidated. Maul is silent, his piercing gaze roving over Jesse’s helmet, and Jesse uses the opportunity to look to his heart’s content. Even without the unusual prosthetics and tattoos, Maul’s natural features would make him unmistakably unique even among Nightbrothers, but no one usually gets close enough to really _look_ at him. Well, not unless they’re related or have a death wish. 

“Do you truly think,” Maul breathes softly with narrowed eyes, “that I need you to save me from political folly?” 

Jesse hold his gaze for a few moments of silence and ponders his complete lack of fear. He’s never been afraid of Maul, and he’s not sure why. It’s not for lack of sense; he understands that Maul is dangerous. It’s just that…

He pushes himself off of the wall and lifts his hand to Maul’s crown of horns, curling his fingers around two of them and gently tugging until they’re face to face. He takes a moment to breathe as he rubs a horn with his thumb, watching in fascination as Maul’s eyes flutter closed in pleasure and then shoot open in indignation. He leans in, helm barely brushing Maul’s cheek as he brings his vocoder up to his ear. 

“Yes,” he whispers. 

Maul shudders and gasps, all eight of his legs twitching unconsciously. Jesse uses the opportunity to stroke Maul’s horns one last time before slipping between two of his deadly appendages and walking calmly to the exit. 

He doesn’t look back. But he knows Maul is watching him all the way.

**Author's Note:**

> Apples, I really enjoyed writing this so I hope you like it! I would have never written SpiderMaul or Jesse/Maul without you, so 😘!


End file.
